Short cavity GaAs/AlGaAs multiquantum well lasers by dry etching

Abstract

A reactive ion beam etching method with Cl2 plasma is applied to fabricate short cavity GaAs/AlGaAs multiquantum well lasers grown by molecular beam epitaxy. Threshold currents as low as 38 mA are achieved for the 20-μm-long cavity lasers. The very short cavity lasers show single longitudinal mode operation under pulsed conditions. Cavity length dependence of the threshold current is also investigated for the dry-etched lasers with cavity lengths varying from 20 to 500 μm.